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LibreOffice downloads on the rise as users look to avoid subscription costs | The free open-source Microsoft Office alternative is being downloaded by nearly 1 million users a week (www.computerworld.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Interest in LibreOffice, the open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, is on the rise, with weekly downloads of its software package close to 1 million a week. That’s the highest download number since 2023.

“We estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but it’s important to note that we respect users’ privacy and don’t track them, so we can’t say for sure,” said Mike Saunders, an open-source advocate and a deputy to the board of directors at The Document Foundation.

LibreOffice users typically want a straightforward interface, Saunders said. “They don’t want subscriptions, and they don’t want AI being ‘helpful’ by poking its nose into their work — it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,” he said.

There are genuine use cases for generative AI tools, but many users prefer to opt-in to it and choose when and where to enable it. “We have zero plans to put AI into LibreOffice. But we understand the value of some AI tools and are encouraging developers to create … extensions that use AI in a responsible way,” Saunders said.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Oh nice! I felt like website did a bad job at explaining what it is and how it works

Like, it doesn’t say if it uses one of their servers or if the two devices should be up at the same time. If so, that’s really unfortunate

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

The devices need to be running at the same time, which isn't that much of a problem, if you e. G. only want to sync your PC to your mobile.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

I think the "normal" usage is having an always on computer as a server and link all other devices to that one for updates.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

it doesn’t say if it uses one of their servers

It does not.

if the two devices should be up at the same time

You can't sync 2 devices when they have no way to connect to each other, so no.

I would recommend getting a server. And by "server" I mean literally any computer with Syncthing installed and left on. Could even be an old phone or something (with sufficient storage). That way there's always 1 device to sync to.